Contemporary Hospitality Industry : Roles and Skills

Contemporary
Hospitality
Industry

INTRODUCTION
The hospitality sector is one of the wide field in the aspect of service industry that acts as
a revenue generator for the economies in various countries. It provides different categories of
business related to food and beverage facilities, travel and transportation services,
accommodation facilities as well as entertainment facilities for the tourist. Major focus of this
sector is to offer services to the customer according to their demands and requirements as well as
provides them value for their money (Tresidder, 2015). The chosen hospitality industry is Ritz
Hotel, which is venture chosen and is graded as a 5- start hotel located in London, England. It is
one of the luxurious and prestigious hotel in the world which was opened and started in the year
1906. This report will throw highlights on different operational roles and the skills needed for
performing such role in specific hospitality industry. It also reviews on difference of skill in
relation to various operational roles and discusses the impact of those in hospitality business It
also reviews internals as well as external factors by using appropriate theories and approaches to
determine the effect of those on the service providing entities. Apart from this recent and future
trends of hospitality sector are discussed which are having impact on the working of the
hospitality business.
TASK 2
P4
Their are different categories of business in the hospitality sector like food & drink
services, planning of event, travelling and many more additional services so as to fulfil the
demands and requirements of the customers. In order top perform different functions respective
hospitality industry requires skilled staff and employee so as to perform varied roles in effective
manner. All the hospitality services are categorised into various departments towards which
employees perform their operational and functional roles in effective manner. Different
operational roles which is required by the employees to be performed within the hospitality
industry is as follows-
 Operational Role towards Housekeeping Department- Housekeeping is an operational
department whose work to keep cleanliness in the hotels and performs the role of
aesthetic upkeep of rooms. It is the responsibility of the employees to perform their duties
within the housekeeping department in an effective manner so as to attract the customers
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towards the hotel and thereby enhances brand image in the market. Employees within the
department requires proper management skills so as to manage cleanliness of room in a
significant manner (Key Operational Areas Of Hotel Management. 2016.).
 Operational role as Receptionist or a Front Desk services- Front desk services in the
hotel is responsible for interacting and communication with the employees and customer
and handle their queries and complaints. Employees at Front desk within respective
hospitality company is responsible for taking and handling bookings. Employees with
good communication skill as well as highly patient employees can work effectively under
this department (Line and Runyan, 2012). Employees performs their operational role of
helping the tourist with proper booking and cancellation facilities as well assists them in
payment regarding hotel services. Employees at front desk properly coordinates with
those of the housekeeping so as to determine that rooms are cleaned and furnished before
issuing room keys to the tourist .
 Operational role towards Department of food- Employees within the food and
beverage department performs their operational role of providing guest with proper
dining needs as per the requirements of the customer. It is their roles and responsibilities
to provide specialised prepared food services according to the requirement of the
customers. Employees within such department should have proper knowledge and
technical skills so as to use the kitchen equipments in a proper manner and provide
customer with best services. This will attract large number of customers within the
respective hotel and leads to enhancement of productivity and profitability.
 Operational role as Maintenance and Technical department- Employees within the
department performs the operational role of performing the maintenance functions
regarding any breakdown within the hotel services. Therefore, employees at Ritz Hotel
should posses necessary technical skills so as understand the issue behind breakdown and
appropriately do the maintenance work and provides efficient services to the customers
so as to gain competitive advantage over rival companies .
 These are the different operations roles which are performed within the hospitality
industry and Ritz hotel needs to hire such employees which have the ability to perform its
roles and responsibilities in a proper manner.
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P5
In order to perform the above operational roles in a effective manner, employees within
the respective hospitality business needs to posses various skills so as to perform their roles and
responsibilities in a proper manner. It is discussed as follows-
 Communication and Interaction Skills- It is imperative to have communication skills
so as to work effectively within the hospitality industry. This skills is majorly required by
the employees at front desk service in order to communicate with clients and customers
from different nationalities, temperaments and backgrounds. It is the responsibility of the
receptionist to handle every query of the tourist and properly communicates with them by
providing them necessary information. Moreover communication skills is needed with all
the employees in different department so as to interact and conduct business activities at
Ritz Hotel in a proper manner (Jones, Hillier and Comfort, 2016).
 Technical Skills- This skills is concerned with abilities and knowledge of using the
equipments and tools in a proper manner which enables them to performs their roles and
responsibilities in a proper manner. This skill is majorly required by the employees
within Technical department which helps them in the proper maintenance of electricity
breakdown as well as in the repair of electrical appliances.
 Management skills- Management skills are considered with working and managing
multitasking and thereby completing the work within a specified time period.
Management skills are majorly needed by the employees in the housekeeping
departments and food and beverage department so as to perform multi task at a single
time and therefore meets the requirements and demands of the customers.
These are the skills needed by the employees within the respective hospitality industry so as to
perform the operational roles in a better manner and leads to success ad growth of the business.
Moreover there is current skill shortage of management and technical skills ,which doesn't allow
employess to perform their task in a effective manner (Duncan, Scottand and Baum, 2013).
M3
Their are different types of operational roles in the hospitality sector that requires
employees to posses necessary skills so as to perform their roles and responsibilities in a
effective manner. Therefore it has been determined that employees have skills gap, which is the
difference between the skills that the employers want or need and in actual the skill possessed by
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the employees within the respective hotel. Therefore conducting skill gaps also helps the
employers within the respective organisation to arrange some training needs so as to enhance
employees skills and abilities. Various operational roles within the hospitality sector like
housekeeping role, operational role towards food and beverage department and towards front
desk services but employees at Ritz hotel faces the problem of shortage of skills such as
management skills which creates problem for the employees to perform multi task at a single
time. For this necessary training should be provided to the employees which makes them to do
work in a effective manner and meets the requirements of the customer. Moreover technical
skills is not there with employees at Ritz hotel which creates problem in handling technical
issues and leads difficulty in maintenance and repair work within technical department (Phelan,
Mejia and Hertzman, 2013) .
D2
It has been analysed that employees within the respective hospitality business doesn't
posses necessary management and technical skills which creates problem for them to function
their roles and responsibilities in a better manner. It creates wider impact on the respective hotel
as leads to reduces productivity as employees will not be able to perform multi task at a single
time and this directly impacts profitability of the business. Moreover when there is skill gaps it
leads to issues and conflicts among the employees as well as doesn't motivate them to work
efficiently and attain goals and objectives at Ritz Hotel. Moreover in order to reduce the impact
of such skills gaps on the functioning of the business activities it is necessary for the manager at
Ritz Hotel to to provide training facilities to its employees regarding enhancing their skills and
capabilities to perform better and moreover proper mentoring initiatives should be started by the
employees so that employees can work under the proper instruction and helps in the attainment
of goals in a proper manner. Therefore adopting this solutions will enhance to employees for
perform their work in an effective manner towards attaining the organisational goals in a proper
manner and thereby enhances brand image of the company and helps in attaining competitive
advantage over its rival companies.
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TASK 3
P6
Macro environmental factors are the key and the external forces of the business
environment which are not in the control of the organisation and has major influence towards
growth and sustainability of business. It consist of political, social, legal, environmental,
technological and economic forces which is described as follows-
 Political Factors- Political factors consist of governmental rules and regulations, its
taxation and interest policy that a impact over the functioning of the hospitality industry.
Therefore these factors effect to the hospitality sector. As with the favourable
governmental rules and regulations within UK, Ritz hotel will be able to operate its
business function in the systematic and desirable manner. Hotel will be able to make
plans and strategies according to the political environment of a particular country.
 Economic- This is related with inflation rates, deflation rates, economic and rate of
interest of any particular nation. This factor directly affects the functioning of hospitality
industry. This is because change in the interest rate of the economy of a particular
country will result in change in need and demand of the customer's and travellers. So it
becomes essential for Ritz Hotel to make strategies according to the economical
conditions. If the organisation fails in doing this than chances of loss in its business will
be increased. If there this any negative change in economical conditions than
management of the hotel will be required to plan strategies accordingly (Gursoy, Rahman
and Swanger, 2012).
 Social – This factor is related with values and beliefs of the individual who are present in
a particular country. It is also concerned with ethics, background and cultural values of
the people. Rapid changes are taking place in the culture and diversity which is directly
affecting the operations of hospitality industry. For example- It is becoming difficult for
organisations to identify exact demand of customer's. This is because their demands are
changing within limited period of time. So if Ritz hotel wants to expand its business in
the proper manner than focus can be emphasised on making plans according to social
factor.
 Technological factor- This is associated to implementation of advanced technology in
the operations and activities of hotel. Hospitality industry is also focusing on using latest
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techniques to increase customers. By latest technology Ritz Hotel will be able to satisfy
its customers requirements. For example- Better competition can also be given to other
hotels if Ritz is able to use latest technology for providing better services to the
customer's.
 Legal – This factor is related with laws and regulations of a particular country. It is
becoming essential for organisations in hospitality industry to keep in mind the laws and
regulations before making plans for operating the business activities. For example if Ritz
hotel is not able to provide adequate salary to its employees according to the laws than its
brand image will be impacted negatively.
 Environmental – This factor is related with growth and sustainability of organisations in
external market environment. Ritz hotel also need to consider the external environment
before planning the future course of action. For example if there is bad whether condition
than Ritz can provide transportation facilities to its visitors. As by doing this its
customer's will be satisfied (Weber and et.al., 2013).
P7
This is a strategic planning technique which helps the manager within the respective
organisation to identify strengths of the respective hospitality business as well as determines its
weakness so as take proper action to reduce their weaker areas and convert them into strengths.
By evaluating their strengths, it assist the manager to grab the available opportunities and
formulates proper strategy in order to reduce the threats identified. Therefore Conducting SWOT
analysis helps the manager to take proper decisions and maintains sustainability of business
operation. Therefore Swot analysis for Ritz h0otel is described as follows-
Strengths
 Presence at Right Locations- Ritz Hotel is situated in best location across the world
based on the area where customers want to avail luxurious accommodation and do not
negotiates with the prices. This enhances their brand image globally and aids competitive
advantage over rival companies.
 Guest feedback and appraisal- This is the major strength of the respective hotel as
managers takes feedback from its tourist regarding the experience they had while availing
the service. In addition to the feedback, hotel also tracks behaviour of the guest so as to
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modify and improve their services according to the requirement of the tourist. Therefore
data maintained also helps in providing personalised services to the guest.
Weaknesses-
 Lack of promotional tools- Ritz hotel has not adopted proper promotional tools and
strategies due to which they are not able to create awareness and attract the customers
towards the services of the hotel.
 High Priced Services- Ritz hotel services are offered at higher price which doesn't leads
them to attract large customers and enhances their brand image globally.
Opportunity-
 Growing Preferences of luxury services- In the today's modern world, there is a global
increase in the demand of luxury hotel services as customers want to avail best quality
services by providing them value for money. This is the biggest opportunity with the
respective hotel to provide customers with luxurious services and gains their trust and
loyalty towards the respective hotel. This will enhance the decision making process of
company and allow manager within the respective hotel hotel to grab the opportunities
while providing luxurious hotel services to the customer .
 Respective hotel has the opportunity of providing services in a sustainable manner
towards adopting eco friendly approach, this will assist them to enhance their brand
image and able to maintain their sustainability in the competitive market place
(Crawford, 2013).
Threats-
 Fluctuating Demands- This is the biggest threat within the hospitality industry as in
today's modern world customers have different demands according to their nationality
and culture. This causes difference in demand of various customers and creates problem
for the respective hospitality industry to provide different services to the different
customer. This associates the threat of sustaining in competitive business environment.
 Competition- Ritz hotel faces stiff competition from Hilton, Marriott and many other
hotels which determines the threat of competition regarding sustaining in the market.
Therefore SWOT analysis tool supports decision making process of the management
within Ritz hotel as by identifying the weakness it assist the respective company to formulates
effective strategies such as adopting promotional tools so as to overcome the weakness of lack of
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customer customers and therefore provides budgeted services to the customer so as to influence
them as well as assist them to take proper decisions in context to the threats identifies. Moreover
this is a effective tool which assist manager to take effective decisions and able to sustsin in the
competitive market .
M4
The impact of external factor on the growth and development of organisations in
hospitality industry can be positive or negative. This depends upon the ongoing market
conditions and strategies made for overcoming the negative impact of these external factors. By
making necessary changes in the operations various company's can easily reduce negative
impact of uncertain market conditions. In addition to this respective hospitality industry various
business external environmental factors have a positive impacts on the functioning of the
business as it allows hotel to work according to the specified rules and regulations and also
follows the legal strategies and legislations while regulating globally. It also assist them to work
according to the respective technological and the social trends and allows effectiveness of
success and growth of the hospitality sector (Ryan, 2015).
TASK 4
P8
As hospitality industry is a broad service industry which provides various services to the
customer as per need and demand. Apart from this, there are various recent and future trends
within the hospitality sector which have an impact on the business is described as follows-
Current trends-
Their are various ongoing current trends in the market which has a effect on the
hospitality industry is described as follows-
 Eco friendly services- This is the ongoing existing trends within the hospitality industry
so as to provide eco friendly services to its customers and minimise negative impact on
the environment (Schuckert, Liu and Law, 2015). Therefore respective hotel should
provide services in a sustainable manner, this will enhance their global image and attracts
customers towards the appropriate services of the hotel. For example, respective
company should adopt proper disposal of waste system as well as minimise the paper
work such as billing should be online and all the information should be provide online so
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as to provide quick information to the employees and minimise the effect on the
environment. This will effect positively to business as larger number of services will be
attracted towards the services of the hotel and will improve profit margins within the
respective business .
 Increased focus on Social Media tools- This is an ongoing trends within the hospitality
industry which is putting more efforts towards creating awareness to the customers by
advertising on internet related platforms and thereby gaining attention of the large group
of customers. In this modern world customers and tourists are highly active on social
media tools, this help them to gather lot of information towards current trends within the
hospitality industry (Testa and Sipe,, 2012). For example respective hotel can adopt to
advertising technique such as use of Facebook and Instagram to create advertisements
about the hotel and the luxurious services provided . This will help them to gain the
attention of the large number of customers and would attract them to avail the services of
the respective hospitality business. Adopting to such promotional tools and techniques
will impact positively to the success and growth of the business and will allow the
respective hotel to enhance their goodwill in the global market and will help them to
compete effectively in the global competitive environment.
Potential Trends-
 Chatbots and Artificial Intelligence- In the modern world tourist or the customers
expects to interact with hospitality companies through various digital channels and ask
their queries and gains information according to their requirements. Moreover chats plays
an important function as they simply understand the question and provide answers
instantly. Thereby removes the burden of the customer service staff and helps them by
answering small queries of the customers. For example chatbots should be used within
the Ritz hotel so that it can handle and solve small queries of the customer and provides
them with the immediate solution. This will enhance brand image of the company and
allow the company to gain competitive advantage over its competitors (Langvinienė and
Daunoravičiūtė, 2015).
 Internet of Things- This is a kind of technological trend of hospitality sector which
provides extended internet connectivity to every day objects, devices and appliances.
Therefore it helps in collecting and communicating data over the internet and helps to
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turn unintelligent devices into the intelligent devices that are autonomous. Like the
respective hotel can use internet enabled thermostats that can automatically adjust room
temperature at room check in and checkout times or respond to temperature swings and
automatically adjust room temperatures. This will help in reducing wastage of lighting
and thereby improving the energy efficiency. Adopting this trend has a positive impact on
the business as it enhance productivity within the respective organisation and thereby
improves its profit margins and helps in providing more innovative and luxurious
services to its customers so as to meet their satisfaction level and gain the confidence and
trust of large number of employees(Luo, Yang and Law, 2014).
Therefore this current and potential trends should be adopted by the business so as to survive in
this competitive dynamic environment and helps the tourist in meeting their demands and
requirements as well as gains their loyalty and trust towards the respective hotel . Moreover this
will indirectly helps in enhancing profit margins of the company.
Therefore Ritz hotel dealing in the hospitality industry has the capability to work
according to the current trends of the business by adopting to various promotional tools and
thereby providing eco friendly services to the customers which helps them to gain competitive
advantage and attracts larger number of customers towards the hotel.
D3
The impact of these factors on current trends can be adverse. This is because the
conditions in the external market is uncertain. This means continuously changes takes place in
the external environment of the business. Therefore it becomes difficult for organisations to
make plans because the conditions in such type of market is not stable. Due to this organisation
can fail in making best use of current and on going market trend. Moreover with the effect of the
external factors like political, social, legal, technological and legal factors have impact on
current and the potential trends such as advanced use of technology and in the form of artificial
intelligence and internet of things and helps the respective organisation to maintain its
sustainability in the competitive business environment (Cheng and Wong, 2015).
CONCLUSION
As per above report it can be concluded that, hospitality industry is wide group of
service sector industry which provides various services to the customer according to their
demands and requirements. Moreover employees perform various operational role within the
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hospitality industry to provide such services. Employees needs to have proper communication
and management skills so as to perform job related responsibilities in a proper manner In
addition to this external and internal environmental factors has been discussed with the help of
PESTLE and Swot analysis so as to take effective decisions so as to reduce the effect of such
factors and determines the recent and future trends and adopt their business practices in such a
manner so as to gain competitive advantage and maintain its sustainability in the competitive
business environment. In addition to this various recent and future trends within the hospitality
sector have been discussed determining its effectiveness within the respective hospitality sector.
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REFFERNCES
Books and Journals
Tresidder, R., 2015. Experiences marketing: A cultural philosophy for contemporary hospitality
marketing studies.Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management. 24(7). pp.708-726.
Line, N.D. and Runyan, R.C., 2012. Hospitality marketing research: Recent trends and future
directions. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 31(2). pp.477-488.
Jones, P., Hillier, D. and Comfort, D., 2016. Sustainability in the hospitality industry: Some
personal reflections on corporate challenges and research agendas. International
Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 28(1). pp.36-67.
Duncan, T., Scott, D.G. and Baum, T., 2013. The mobilities of hospitality work: An exploration
of issues and debates. Annals of tourism research. 41. pp.1-19.
Phelan, K.V., Mejia, C. and Hertzman, J., 2013. The industry experience gap: Hospitality faculty
perceptions of the importance of faculty industry experience. Journal of Hospitality &
Tourism Education. 25(3). pp.123-130.
Gursoy, D., Rahman, I. and Swanger, N., 2012. Industry's expectations from hospitality schools:
What has changed?.Journal of Hospitality & Tourism Education,24(4), pp.32-42.
Weber and et.al., 2013. An exploratory analysis of soft skill competencies needed for the
hospitality industry. Journal of Human Resources in Hospitality & Tourism. 12(4).
pp.313-332.
Crawford, A., 2013. Hospitality operators' understanding of service: a qualitative
approach. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 25(1).
pp.65-81.
Ryan, C., 2015. Trends in hospitality management research: a personal reflection. International
Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 27(3). pp.340-361.
Schuckert, M., Liu, X. and Law, R., 2015. Hospitality and tourism online reviews: Recent trends
and future directions. Journal of Travel & Tourism Marketing. 32(5). pp.608-621.
Testa, M.R. and Sipe, L., 2012. Service-leadership competencies for hospitality and tourism
management. International journal of hospitality management. 31(3). pp.648-658.
Langvinienė, N. and Daunoravičiūtė, I., 2015. Factors influencing the success of business model
in the hospitality service industry. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 213,
pp.902-910.
Luo, H., Yang, Y. and Law, R., 2014. How to achieve a high efficiency level of the hotel
industry?. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management. 26(8).
pp.1140-1161.
Cheng, S. and Wong, A., 2015. Professionalism: A contemporary interpretation in hospitality
industry context. International Journal of Hospitality Management. 50. pp.122-133.
Online
Key Operational Areas Of Hotel Management. 2016. [ONLINE] Available
Through:<https://www.gourmetmarketing.net/7-key-operational-areas-hotel-
management/>
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